


Missed Calls

by akikotree



Series: San Francisco Dance AU [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Breakup, Gen, M/M, Modern AU, OT5 Friendship, RPF, real person fic, san francisco dance au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3326663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akikotree/pseuds/akikotree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The cool air of the retractable hallway was a blessing after the stuffiness of the plane. Liam felt his phone buzz repeatedly in his pocket, at least four or five times. But he wanted to get out of the mess of people before he looked at it. It buzzed at least twice more before he found a quiet stretch of wall to lean against. There was a window opposite, showing an unexciting view of damp pavement, sodden runway control officers, the wing of a waiting plane and a heavy gray sky. It was the same sky he had left behind in San Francisco.</p><p>Part 6 of the San  Francisco Dance AU series. This one does not stand alone well. Chronologically it takes place about a month after part 5 and six months before parts 1 and 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missed Calls

Liam braced himself as the plane braked into a swallow glide towards the Birmingham airport. There was that horrible jolt as the wheels hit the runway- they had landed. Liam unbuckled his seat belt with a sigh as the cabin lights came back up. He wasn't a nervous flier but takeoffs and landings always made him sweat a little- he hated that feeling in his stomach. The flight attendant was urging the passengers to stay in their seats until the plane came to a complete stop. Some of the passengers were ignoring her, stretching, standing up, collecting their bags and jackets. Liam wondered how Zayn was doing. Zayn _was_ a nervous flier. The flight he had taken to San Francisco at the beginning of semester had been the first of his life- he had told Liam he'd been so worried about it he'd almost made himself ill. Liam hadn't exactly aided Zayn's stress levels before his flight home by missing that exit on the way to SFO last night. But Zayn had probably been home for five or six hours by now. Liam wished they could have flown home together but they hadn't even know each other yet when they'd bought their plane tickets. They couldn't fly together in January either because Benedictine’s semester started a week earlier than Directions. Liam turned his phone back on and stood to collect his backpack and his carry on bag. He joined the shuffle of cranky and exhausted people filing off the plane. At least Liam had been able to leave his big suitcase in San Rafael and could skip the baggage claim. 

The cool air of the retractable hallway was a blessing after the stuffiness of the plane. Liam felt his phone buzz repeatedly in his pocket, at least four or five times. But he wanted to get out of the mess of people before he looked at it. It buzzed at least twice more before he found a quiet stretch of wall to lean against. There was a window opposite, showing an unexciting view of damp pavement, sodden runway control officers, the wing of a waiting plane and a heavy gray sky. It was the same sky he had left behind in San Francisco. 

When Liam looked at his phone he had a whole list of missed calls and texts. The first text was from his mom- _Tell us when you land!_ He responded to that one immediately: _landed safe._ The second one was from Harry and just read _LIAM PICK UP._ But surely Harry had known he was on a flight? The next was from Zayn and it said _Listen to your messages and call me as soon as you can._ Liam's heart beat very loudly, twice. What did that mean? The last text was from Niall. _What the hell is going on with Harry and Lou do you know?_ No. How would he know? They'd both been flying out of SFO this morning- probably they were still on their respective flights. _Idk, just landed,_ Liam sent to Niall. Then he pulled up his voice mail. 

“You have _five_ new messages,” the female auto voice informed him. “First message.” It was from Harry. He sounded breathless and strained. 

“Liam, Liam- _god-_ I just woke up- _Louis is gone._ He's just- he's just not here, not in the apartment. I don't- I don't know what to- his suitcase is still here. Liam, I am _freaking out_ right now.” 

The message ended. Liam almost didn't understand what he was hearing. Gone? How could Louis be gone? Gone where? 

The second message was also from Harry and his voice had risen- there was an edge of panic in it. “Liam, he's not picking up his phone. I called _four times_ and it just goes to voice mail. He was- he was kind of in a weird mood last night- he got some bad news but I'm not sure I'm supposed to say... He's not answering texts- you don't think- do you think- _oh god..._ but he didn't- he didn't... _Liam I don't know what to do._ Should I call the police? Oh god, please pick up Liam, _please...”_ There was a gap of twenty or so seconds of silence and then that message ended as well. 

_What the fuck,_ thought Liam. Fear and worry were starting to uncurl inside him. What was going on? Or rather... he looked down at the time of the calls. What had happened over six hours ago?

The third message was Harry again, sounding shaky. “Liam, I just remembered you're probably still on your plane. My flight leaves in about an hour and half, but I don't know... I don't know where Louis is... _please_ call me when you get this, Liam, _please.”_

Liam stared blindly out through the rain-spotted window at the gray sky. What had Harry done? What had _Louis_ done? 

The fourth message was from Zayn. “Liam, I've just landed in Leeds and I missed this frantic call from Harry. Louis left him, or something? Harry was like, hyperventilating. I'm pretty worried about him- don't really understand what's going on- call when you can.” 

Shit, shit, shit. 

The last message was from Niall. “Hey Liam, I have this phone message from Harry but it's really hard to tell what he's saying? He's sort of crying? Something about Louis? Did they break up? When do you get back to England? Call me.” 

Had they broken up? Was that what had had happened? Liam thought back to their recent interactions. Things had definitely been... strained... during the road trip they'd done in Tahoe. Liam did not understand the weird power dynamic that Harry and Louis had somehow developed. It seemed like Harry was enjoying it... but it didn't look all that enjoyable from the outside. Liam and Niall had had a pretty awkward conversation about whether they needed to say something about it to someone. There was a serious cognitive disconnection that Liam found too difficult to think about. He actively pushed away the images of bruises on Harry's wrists coupled with the sounds that came from his room and that look that Louis sometimes got, the scary one... it all seemed wrong to him. But after a night of this Harry would turn up at breakfast nearly giddy and smiling, unashamed of the bruises. On the contrary he seemed proud of them and was delighted to show them off. Harry had not seemed anywhere near breaking up with Louis. Had Louis maybe broken up with him? But if that was the case wouldn't Harry have said _we broke up_ not _Louis is gone?_ Liam pulled up Louis's number and hit send. He held the phone tightly to his ear, willing it to go though so he could sort out this mess. 

_And why hadn't Niall picked up Harry's call, dammit?_ Liam thought as he waited. He and Zayn had not been able to answer, but what had Niall been doing that was so important? Liam could picture Harry, sitting in the pre-dawn gloom of the kitchen, calling each of them in turn and reaching no one. Harry had needed them and they had not been there for him. He had been left entirely alone. 

The phone in Liam's hand rang and rang and rang.

“Where are you?” snapped Liam, when at last it cut to Louis's voice mail. “You need to call me back, or Harry.” 

He hung up and dialed Harry. It went straight to voice mail without even ringing once. Probably that meant that he was now on his flight, out of reach for the next four or five hours. He called Zayn. Zayn, bless him, picked up at once. 

“Hey, I've just landed, did you ever hear back from Harry?” Liam asked without preamble. An endless flow of travelers was going by in front of him- wheeled suitcases, wheeled strollers, wheel chairs, a janitor pushing a wheeled cart- Liam covered his other ear to hear better. 

“No, all I have is this one message,” Zayn was saying. 

“I have three,” said Liam. “And a text.” 

“Do you know what's going on?” Zayn sounded anxious. 

“Not really,” said Liam. His phone buzzed against the side of his face. He pulled it away to have a look. 

“I've just gotten a text from Niall, I'm going to call him and see if he knows,” said Liam. “Talk to you later?” 

“Yeah, call me back soon,” said Zayn. 

Liam ended the call and rang Niall instead. His stomach was churning, but some of that was hunger. He hadn't really eaten on the plane, he was never able to.

“Liam!” said Niall, answering his call. “How are you? What's going on with Harry?”

“I don't really know. Have you heard anything more from him?” asked Liam. 

“No, just that one message...” 

“Why didn't you pick up?” Liam demanded. 

“I was in my first physical therapy appointment,” said Niall. “Had my phone off.” 

Liam immediately felt guilty for being sharp with him. Of course, Niall had his own problems right now... “Shit,” he muttered. 

“Did Zayn talk to him?” Niall asked. 

“None of us did,” said Liam, tiredly. He suddenly wondered how long had he been standing in this hallway. 

“Well, let me know as soon as you find out what's going on, I'm not going anywhere,” said Niall. “Literally. I'm on crutches.” 

“Ah, that sucks,” said Liam. Niall hadn't known yet how bad the knee was when he'd flown home early. “I hope... I hope it gets better soon...” 

“Me too,” said Niall.

Liam's phone buzzed again. Probably his family wondering why he wasn't outside waiting to be picked up. 

“Look, I have to go, I'm still at the airport- I'll call you later, okay?” said Liam. 

“Alright, bye for now,” said Niall. 

Liam pushed off from the wall, pulling his small rolling bag behind him, joining the flow of people heading to the exit. He dialed Harry's number one more time as he walked. Once again it went straight to voice mail. 

“Harry,” said Liam, trying to sound calm and reassuring. “I'm sorry I missed your calls earlier. I've just walked with Zayn and Niall. I hope you and Louis are alright and both made it to the airport and onto your flights. Call me when you land, let me know if there's anything you need- anything I can do.” 

Liam ended the call with a sinking feeling. He pushed his phone back into his pocket. Now all he could do was wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I need to apologize a bit for this... so, er, sorry. The next update will make things better, I promise. It will be posted on Valentines Day :3 It will jump forward in time to take place after parts 1 and 2. Updates about this fic can be found on the akikotree [tumblr](http://akikotree.tumblr.com/).
> 
> As always, thank you very much to [mybeanieandme](http://mybeanieandme.tumblr.com/) for crucial rewordings and constant expansion of au canon. Part 7 is coming~~


End file.
